The Effect of a Social-Emotional-Behavioral Framework on Middle School Student Achievement: A Causal-Comparative Study

With heightened accountability requirements, schools are under pressure to produce academic results while addressing behavioral challenges. The implementation of social-emotional-behavioral frameworks has improved behavioral outcomes in students, but the impact on academic outcomes has yet to be answered. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that the full implementation of a social-emotional-behavioral framework produces the desired academic outcome results and growth on state-standards achievement tests in students with disabilities at the middle school level. Ninety-two Virginia middle schools formed the sample population. Three settings implemented a three-tier framework for one-two (MSA) years, three-four years (MSB), and five years plus (MSC) respectively. Reading Standards of Learning assessments were examined to evaluate the effect of the full implementation on student achievement. An ex post facto causal comparative design was utilized. Data was collected through the Virginia Department of Education’s publicly accessible database and exported into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). With 28 participant schools in MSA, 29 participant schools in MSB, and 35 participate schools in MSC, an ANOVA was utilized to analyze the ELA data. The study did find statistically significant differences between MSA and MSC in English language arts

Effects of Probiotics on Inflammatory Responses in Neuronal Tissue

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects more than 40 million people. While the pathophysiology has yet to be fully elucidated, some studies suggest AD associated chronic inflammation is caused by hyperactive microglia that produce pro-inflammatory factors. Probiotics have been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties and may influence neurochemistry via the gut-brain-axis, which controls communication between the intestines and brain, crossing over the blood brain barrier (BBB). A model of the BBB was constructed with a double transwell system to clarify the effects of probiotics on cerebral inflammation. Microglia cells grown in the basolateral chamber were co-cultured with endothelial cells in the upper compartment while an astrocyte monolayer separated the two compartments. Once the system was exposed to human peripheral blood T-cells and combined with histamine (probiotic anti-inflammatory product), formic acid (probiotic inflammatory product), both, or neither, the microglial medium was collected and analyzed for tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and interleukin-10 using ELISA. ANOVA and T-Tests were run and showed no significant results, except for the histamine and formic acid combination. In the combination treatment, levels of TNFα were slightly different than the control (p = 0.00006), contrary to what was expected. Under these conditions, probiotics do not reduce inflammation in the brain and thus cannot effectively treat AD patients. However, in the future, more experiments should be conducted with multiple inflammatory and anti-inflammatory molecules as there could be overlapping interactions between several probiotic products that produce advantageous metabolic effects and mitigate elevations in inflammatory responses

Development, feasibility, and acceptability of SPoRT: a dating violence and sexual risk prevention intervention for college student-athletes.

BACKGROUND: Student-athletes are one subgroup of college students in the USA at risk for dating violence and sexual risk behaviors. Despite this, research on student-athletes\u27 dating behaviors is limited; existing research pertains primarily to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletes and focuses on male student-athletes as perpetrators of dating and sexual violence. While some existing programs aim to reduce dating violence and promote healthy relationships, these programs are education based, and not tailored to the specific strengths and challenges of student-athletes. We therefore designed Supporting Prevention in Relationships for Teams (SPoRT), a novel, four-session prevention intervention for Division III student-athletes of all genders to reduce dating violence and sexual risk behavior by targeting knowledge and skills identified in pilot research, incorporating psychoeducation with techniques from cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, bystander intervention, and normative feedback. METHODS: This study represents stage 1 of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development, evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of SPoRT. We describe the development, content, and proposed delivery methods for SPoRT and evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of the program using a mixed-methods approach. Thirty college student-athletes (12 men, 18 women) completed questionnaires and participated in focus groups to provide feedback on the program\u27s length, timing, group size and dynamics, content, and suggestions for making the SPoRT prevention intervention more feasible and acceptable. RESULTS: Our recruitment procedures were successful, and participants rated the program as feasible in terms of delivery methods and logistics. Participants liked that SPoRT was developed based on pilot data collected from student-athletes, brief, and skills based and tailored to athletic team needs. SPoRT was perceived as appropriate and relevant to student-athlete needs in terms of dating violence and sexual risk prevention knowledge and skills. Most participants (63%) rated the program as excellent and said they would recommend it to others. CONCLUSIONS: We found SPoRT to be both feasible and acceptable in terms of content and delivery. Suggested modifications will be incorporated into the SPoRT healthy relationships prevention intervention to be tested in an NIH Stage 1 efficacy trial

The relationship between approach to activity engagement, specific aspects of physical function, and pain duration in chronic pain

Objectives:To examine: (1) the relationships between habitual approach to activity engagement and specific aspects of physical functioning in chronic pain; and (2) whether or not these relationships differ according to pain duration.Materials and Methods:Outpatients (N=169) with generalized chronic pain completed a set of written questionnaires. Categories of approach to activity engagement were created using the confronting and avoidance subscales of the Pain and Activity Relations Questionnaire. An interaction term between approach to activity engagement categories and pain duration was entered into analysis with age, sex, pain intensity, the categorical approach to activity engagement variable, and pain duration, in 9 ordinal regression models investigating functioning in a variety of daily activities.Results:The approach to activity engagement category predicted the personal care, lifting, sleeping, social life, and traveling aspects of physical functioning but, interestingly, not the performance skills used during these activities, that is, walking, sitting, and standing. The interaction term was significant in 2 models; however, the effect of pain duration on associations was the inverse of that theorized, with the relationship between variables becoming less pronounced with increasing duration of pain.Discussion:The results of this study do not support the commonly held notion that avoidance and/or overactivity behavior leads to deconditioning and reduced physical capacity over time. Findings do, however, suggest that a relationship exists between avoidance and/or overactivity behavior and reduced participation in activities. Implications for the clinical management of chronic pain and directions for further research are discussed

Contrasting patterns of larval mortality in two sympatric riverine fish species: A test of the critical period hypothesis

Understanding the causal mechanisms that determine recruitment success is critical to the effective conservation of wild fish populations. Although recruitment strength is likely determined during early life when mortality is greatest, few studies have documented age-specific mortality rates for fish during this period. We investigated age-specific mortality of individual cohorts of two species of riverine fish from yolksac larvae to juveniles, assaying for the presence of a "critical period": A time when mortality is unusually high. Early life stages of carp gudgeons (Hypseleotris spp.) and unspecked hardyhead (Craterocephalus stercusmuscarum fulvus)-two fishes that differ in fecundity, egg size and overlap between endogenous and exogenous feeding-were collected every second day for four months. We fitted survivorship curves to 22 carp gudgeon and 15 unspecked hardyhead four-day cohorts and tested several mortality functions. Mortality rates declined with age for carp gudgeon, with mean instantaneous mortality rates (-Z) ranging from 1.40-0.03. In contrast, mortality rates for unspecked hardyhead were constant across the larval period, with a mean -Z of 0.15. There was strong evidence of a critical period for carp gudgeon larvae from hatch until 6 days old, and no evidence of a critical period for unspecked hardyhead. Total larval mortality for carp gudgeon and unspecked hardyhead up to 24 days of age was estimated to be 97.8 and 94.3%, respectively. We hypothesise that life history strategy may play an important role in shaping overall mortality and the pattern of mortality during early life in these two fishes

Changing climate, changing business practices : lessons from innovative growers

Climate change and increasing seasonal variability are challenging the production efforts of growers in lower rainfall environments of the Western Australian grain belt. Significantly less rainfall than the long-term average has fallen across southwest Western Australia during the past 30 years. Seasonal rainfall has also become more variable with later starts to the growing season and a general shift to more summer and less winter rainfall. Day and night-time temperatures, particularly in winter and autumn, have gradually increased, while in some areas, the risk of frost in spring has increased.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1083/thumbnail.jp